Who didn’t want to be C.Thomas Howell screaming “Wolverines” shooting a Russian helicopter, while meeting your demise for country? Adolescent me, Fuck yeah! Fifty year old me, I think the Phillies are playing tonight? I remember watching an old Joe Bobs Briggs when he was showing Ref Dawn, and I remember him talking about how the Russians use to show the same type of movies to their people?
Lol, same! Now I'm like, which one of my kids am I ubering around today. I honestly try to stay up on current events globally to this day, but def don't allow myself to get so immersed that I build up resentment. I remember our teacher showing this movie to us in class one day, but only if we promised not to repeat any bad words!
When I first noticed GenXers mentioning our childhood fears of nuclear war and the drills in school, I was a little confused & surprised. I remembered the duck & cover drills but I thought they were only for tornadoes, and I thought it was only Boomer kids who had Cold War PTSD.
Then I suddenly remembered worrying about the end of the world a lot when I was little, trying to imagine what a nuclear explosion would feel like, and it hit me all at once that I HAD been affected in the way other GenXers were but I’d largely buried it.
What’s funny though is that the reason I’d assumed the duck & cover drills were just to prepare for a tornado was because even as a child I knew it made no sense to think hiding under a desk would help us survive a nuclear attack 😆
I grew up in the Michigan, so I've heard it was a little different regionally, but to your point, once we end up digging deep in conversation I've learned that the majority of Gen Xers, they had drilled for the bomb but somehow buried it or forgot about it entirely. Like you, I questioned the practice, but I remember my dad (ex-military) reminded me that if something were to happen at school, teaching kids how to cope, even with something as simple or absurd as hiding under a desk, gave children hope and possibly enough order for administrators to react. My teenager son talks about AI with me and that's the talk of impending doom for the younger generation today. Who knew we really would have to worry about Skynet! lol
Your dad makes an excellent point! It probably did help us cope, by making us feel less powerless maybe?
Yes, the rise of AI is a huge trigger for our generation. My teenage son is just adapting to its possibilities but it’s me and his father that are cautious and skeptical of it.
I think we have the right to be skeptical for sure. When I watch, hear, or read the lead programmers and inventors of AI being worried... that's cause for worry in itself, lol
When the Day After was shown, I was a kid who had been living in the United States only since 1981. And I came here from the Soviet Union. I should also mention that I was living in the Kansas City area. Gutenberg was okay, but Jason Robards was terrific.
Terrific and scary film, and agreed, Robards was excellent! I'm a first gen immigrant. We definitely were aware of the horror of war. I remember feeling like we made it to the promise land, but there was no escaping the decisions of world leaders. It feels like that still today.
Who didn’t want to be C.Thomas Howell screaming “Wolverines” shooting a Russian helicopter, while meeting your demise for country? Adolescent me, Fuck yeah! Fifty year old me, I think the Phillies are playing tonight? I remember watching an old Joe Bobs Briggs when he was showing Ref Dawn, and I remember him talking about how the Russians use to show the same type of movies to their people?
Lol, same! Now I'm like, which one of my kids am I ubering around today. I honestly try to stay up on current events globally to this day, but def don't allow myself to get so immersed that I build up resentment. I remember our teacher showing this movie to us in class one day, but only if we promised not to repeat any bad words!
When I first noticed GenXers mentioning our childhood fears of nuclear war and the drills in school, I was a little confused & surprised. I remembered the duck & cover drills but I thought they were only for tornadoes, and I thought it was only Boomer kids who had Cold War PTSD.
Then I suddenly remembered worrying about the end of the world a lot when I was little, trying to imagine what a nuclear explosion would feel like, and it hit me all at once that I HAD been affected in the way other GenXers were but I’d largely buried it.
What’s funny though is that the reason I’d assumed the duck & cover drills were just to prepare for a tornado was because even as a child I knew it made no sense to think hiding under a desk would help us survive a nuclear attack 😆
I grew up in the Michigan, so I've heard it was a little different regionally, but to your point, once we end up digging deep in conversation I've learned that the majority of Gen Xers, they had drilled for the bomb but somehow buried it or forgot about it entirely. Like you, I questioned the practice, but I remember my dad (ex-military) reminded me that if something were to happen at school, teaching kids how to cope, even with something as simple or absurd as hiding under a desk, gave children hope and possibly enough order for administrators to react. My teenager son talks about AI with me and that's the talk of impending doom for the younger generation today. Who knew we really would have to worry about Skynet! lol
Your dad makes an excellent point! It probably did help us cope, by making us feel less powerless maybe?
Yes, the rise of AI is a huge trigger for our generation. My teenage son is just adapting to its possibilities but it’s me and his father that are cautious and skeptical of it.
I think we have the right to be skeptical for sure. When I watch, hear, or read the lead programmers and inventors of AI being worried... that's cause for worry in itself, lol
When the Day After was shown, I was a kid who had been living in the United States only since 1981. And I came here from the Soviet Union. I should also mention that I was living in the Kansas City area. Gutenberg was okay, but Jason Robards was terrific.
Terrific and scary film, and agreed, Robards was excellent! I'm a first gen immigrant. We definitely were aware of the horror of war. I remember feeling like we made it to the promise land, but there was no escaping the decisions of world leaders. It feels like that still today.
"Joshua" in WarGames was the original AI.
Well done, John.